Conversation

"He won't let me be indifferent to the suffering," I Only Ask of God by Outlandish.

This is another work of fiction.

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Ms Divya went into the teachers’ dining area with a peeved look on her face. The kids have done it again, thought Mrs Seng as she invited Ms Divya to sit down next to her.

“What’s the matter darling? What has 4 Aktif done THIS time?” asked Mrs Seng caringly while half-massaging her friend’s right arm.

“Oooh, I just don’t know what to do with those idiots anymore! They’re just too dumb to be in school!” Ms Divya lamented.

“Yes, 4 Aktif really are one pathetic bunch,” nodded Mrs Seng in agreement.

“It’s like this, you know.. Do you remember the big wall clock that I brought to school?”

“Ahaa,” Mrs Seng nodded anyway, not recalling anything regarding the said clock at all. Ms Divya could tell.

“Well, I brought it here a few months back since I no longer wanted it at home. I thought, since it was really big, it could teach the hooligans at 4 Aktif a thing or two about time, so I put it in their class.” Ms Divya paused to catch her breath.

“Did the kids break it?” Mrs Seng hypothesized.

“They broke it!” confirmed Ms Divya with a look of despair. “I’m so angry at them! As soon as I entered the class, I noticed that a part of the floor was covered in glass, where some of the idiots were trying to sweep. I looked up at the place I hung the clock and it wasn’t there anymore. Do you know where they put it? In the waste basket behind the class! It didn’t even fit the clock!” Ms Divya went on switching between anger and torment in her tone of voice.

“What did you do then?” asked Mrs Seng. If her ears had lips, they were smacking away.

“I screamed. I’m sure you heard it.” Mrs Seng did. The whole school did. “I asked the good-for-nothing Class Monitor what happened. He was the one holding the broom. You know what he said?” Ms Divya hung the question.

As if I knew. “What did he say?” Mrs Seng asked impatiently.

“He mumbled on about changing the battery or something and ‘accidentally’ dropped the clock! Stupid boy!” Ms Divya’s face reddened, and Mrs Seng had a feeling she wasn’t blushing.

“Hm, alasan all that. He just said that he wanted to change the battery, when he really had no reason right? He was just playing with the clock and dropped it right?” Mrs Seng tried to imply.

“He tried to get all smart-alecky on me. He even had the nerve to show me the ‘new’ batteries that he bought. He said the clock hasn’t been running since it got there. Padahal I was just going to get new batteries next week! I smacked the boy right away! I said, when you make a mistake, apologize first! Don’t give me reason after stupid reason!” Ms Divya pointed her finger to the air in front of her as if she were scolding Syafiq right now.

“Ha, padan muka that kid. Shows him right for talking back,” Mrs Seng nodded her approval.

“Hm, then I ordered everyone in the class to stand outside the class in the corridor to let them think about what they’ve done. It wasn’t a cheap clock, you know? I bought it from Ipoh!” Ms Divya clarified.

“Yaa, yaa, I could imagine.”

“Then I left the class there, outside the corridor holding their ears. Which reminds me, I should get back there and follow-up on my lecture to them. Still got a lot to say. They better still be standing there, or else even I don’t know what I’m going to do with them,” Ms Divya warned, almost to Mrs Seng as well.

“Well, you’re right. Go on ahead,” Mrs Seng smiled showing her consent.

And with that Ms Divya took her handbag and left the canteen. Mrs Seng continued to sip on her glass of teh tarik.

.End.

Cheers!